Former Rat Jensen unlikely to play this season

RALEIGH, N.C. — Center Joe Jensen, one of the most severely injured Albany River Rats in last February’s team bus crash, likely will not play hockey this season, according to one of his former teammates.

Jerome Samson said today he has spoken with Jensen, who is still having complications from a concussion suffered when the Yankee Trails vehicle flipped on its side on the Massachusetts Turnpike. Jensen, an unrestricted free agent, told Samson that he likely would sit out the season.

The only other player enduring physical aftereffects of the crash is defenseman Casey Borer, who will undergo surgery early next week on his neck, which was broken in the accident. Borer isn’t likely to return to game action for three or four months, Rats coach Jeff Daniels said today.